The Calbee Effect (Heart + Pancakes)

The day felt warm, and Becca started to feel at peace again. Was it still strange that it felt nice talking to Calbee, even if their relationship was so different now? Well, whatever their relationship was going to be because well, this was the first time they’d seen each other in so long. Then again, she couldn’t talk about how stupid social norms were when she was five or six. Becca raised a brow when Calbee brought up whatever ‘Mom’ used to say. Was that supposed to be a common saying wherever he was or? “Mom?” Becca asked, looking up at him again. “Calbee I’ve had like, five. You gotta be more specific.” She clarified.

It was probably just a phrase but Becca still felt something strange about having her mom brought up. Probably because none of them ever really felt like her mom. Then again, what did her mom really feel like? Becca was glad that she soon wasn’t the only one in confusion. Apparently Calbee knew just as much as how their relationship was working as much as she did, which was absolutely nothing. “Maybe.” Becca shrugged. “I mean, I’m nineteen. You look like you could be like, mid-teens early twenties. Let’s make you nineteen too.” She concluded. “You know what’s weird?” She asked, “I don’t remember if you looked this age when I was little, or if you looked like a kid like me.”

If there was a reason that Becca was taking all of this on rather well and quickly after the initial shock, then it hadn’t made itself clear yet. But there wasn’t anything wrong with having someone to talk to who’ll answer back instead of putting her on read. Becca yawned, snuggling more with her backpack. “I could fall asleep right now,” she said, seeing that Calbee was still up in the air. Or standing. She pat the ground next to her, wanting him to sit.
 
Calbee's eyes widened. "No way, there's no way you had five moms!" he exclaimed. "Didn't they just change their hair a few times? How even?!" Calbee stared at Becca as if he were saying "When did this happen!?" He always thought it was the same mom, just with a different hair color or hairstyle every few seasons. The fact that parents don't always stay together was foreign to Calbee.

And just like that, Calbee was nineteen. He grinned at Becca, looking proud that he was older and (somewhat) wiser. "You don't remember?" Calbee repeated. "I think I grew with you. I've been the same height as you, up until now anyway. You're smaller than me." Calbee then bent forward, studying Becca for a moment. Since she was sitting down, it was hard to tell but it was okay. Poor Becca looked tired anyway.

The green-haired man floated down until his feet touched the ground, and then he sat down next to Becca. "Is it finally nap time?" Calbee asked, a little tongue-in-cheek reference to their previous conversation about naps being taken away. Calbee looked forward, off to the outside for a moment, then a question popped into his head. "Hey, back on the mom issue," he asked. "Who was...really your mom then?"
 
Becca raked her brain for a second before covering her mouth with her sleeve – she really didn’t want to start laughing at him, and she had the feeling that he wasn’t joking when he asked all that. “Calbee, those were all step moms.” She explained, wondering if he knew what a stepparent was. From the lack of understanding gestures on his part, that was probably a no. “Okay, a step parent is when your parents aren’t with together anymore and one of your parents marries someone else.” She explained as she sat up against her backpack. “And my dad had like, five other wives, and they’ve all been my step-moms.” She explained, waiting for a gesture of approval or understanding.


While she was waiting, Becca realized she was being studied, and while the tinier statement wasn’t a joke, she heard enough joke versions of it. “Don’t remind me – I’m still one of the shortest people I know.” She said, smirking at his comment about naptime. That would have been a fantastic idea, and she was just about ready for it. She followed Calbee’s lead and leaned back down on her backpack. She was ready to start the dozing off process when he finally asked about her mom. Becca paused, sitting back up. “I don’t know.” She admitted, her tone soft but with traces of resentment. “She left when I was a baby. My dad said her name was Chloe or something, and he promised to show me the papers when I got old enough.” She said, sighing as she laid back down.


Becca was facing the sky, relaxed against the backpack finally when she thought more about whatever her name was. No, she hadn’t gotten the papers from her dad just yet. But with what happened, she could understand, and didn’t want to rush it. Plus, the one benefit of Lyn was that she made whoever her real mom could be look like a saint. “I wanna find her though.” She said. “There’s so much I want to know,” She sighed again, thinking about the questions she had. They ranged from her height to why she left, and everything in between. The biggest question though, wasn’t even something she could answer. Becca just wanted a face to go along with the expectations in her mind.
 
As Becca explained everything, Calbee had a wide range of facial expressions. He looked puzzled, then understanding, then shocked, then confused again. When Becca was waiting for a response, Calbee blinked at her. "Okay? I think?" he said. "That's crazy, though, having five wives. And five moms, that's a lot of moms!"

Calbee took off his hair tie, shook out his shoulder-length green hair and began messing with the tie. He turned to see Becca raise up again, and listened with a little bit of sadness in his eyes. Most of this still went over his head, but he could tell when Becca was upset, even a little bit. Besides, never getting to meet your real mother? If he were fully human, Calbee would not want to go through that at all.

"Well," he began, starting to put his hair back up, getting bored with the tie. "You're nineteen, I'm nineteen. You're in this crazy thing called college now..." Calbee then shrugged. "Maybe you could ask to see the papers?" He laid down, crossing his arms, and leaned over Becca with his chin resting on his arms. "It's worth a shot. Besides, you may be able to search for her when you see them!
 
“Trust me it took me forever just to get used to the idea too.” Becca shrugged, relaxed under the shade of the tree. She kept her eye on Calbee, who couldn’t imagine having that many moms. “Well I take that back. Like, not all of them felt like moms, especially now.” She said. Then again, she knew she didn’t have much to go off of what a mom actually really was compared to the five in her life. She kept her head down when Calbee brought up the papers, and how he could have just started asking her dad about them now. She knew how unfair it would’ve been to try to force that on her dad, especially now. “I would, but the timing’s been off. I’ll try,” She brushed off, knowing she’d have to tell Calbee the truth. “You’ll see I guess,” She shrugged again.

Becca really wanted to believe that Calbee could help her with this, that he’d be the best man for the job. But she knew that he could really only do so much, especially with limited corporealness and interaction with the outside world. “Lets’ plan it later. Just let’s… sleep I guess for now.” She guessed, getting comfortable again and scooting on the blanket, enough to give him some room next to her if he wanted. “So I told you my dream, and what I wanted to do.” She began, “What about you? You have anything?” She asked.
 
What was wrong? Wasn't getting the papers something she wanted to do? Why so standoffish now? Calbee wouldn't press it, remembering how angry she got in the classroom. Things were just starting to get better, and he didn't want to butcher that again. "I mean, if you say so..."

When Becca offered to take a nap, Calbee grinned and immediately plopped down next to her. "College hasn't changed you too much. That's good!" he said with a grin.

He laid there, looking up at the sky. When the question was posed to him, Calbee shrugged. "To make people happy I guess. That's about all I can really do right now. I can't manipulate items or touch anything - aside from you, I can hug you. But when it comes to this tree..."

Calbee poked it, but his hand went straight through like water. "Nothing."

He then laid back down. "So if I can make people happy, then that's good for me!"
 
Becca could see that Calbee was holding something back. It was strange seeing her unfiltered friend suddenly have to correct himself, all for her sake. She could appreciate that, especially seeing how things weren’t so great earlier. At least, she could hope that Calbee was holding back for her sake. “It’ll make sense soon,” She reassured as she got comfortable next to him. “What does that mean,” She asked, smirking at him. “I’m all grown up. I went through an emo phase, and a phase where I thought vampires were hot.” She explained. “And I have so many other things I’ve done.” She said, thinking about more things that made her grow up.

“You’re lucky you got to skip puberty.” Becca muttered before she listened to Calbee’s explanation. The idea solidified as she saw Calbee’s hand going through the tree. She knew this technically, like, she saw it as a kid. But it never really clicked completely until she saw this. She also wondered why she never asked about his dreams before when she was younger. It was easy for him to make people happy, and she was glad that he was getting there somehow. “Well I’m happy you’re here now,” she admitted. “What’ve you been doing since you left?” She asked, comfortably resting against the bag and his shoulder.
 
"It meeeeans that college hasn't changed your naptime routine!" Calbee said with a laugh. "If college made you stop taking naps, I'd be scared for you! We'd have to get you out immediately! But it sounds like we don't have to worry about that now." Calbee nudged her happily and looked back up at the sky above them.

As Becca recalled her life moments, Calbee snickered a bit. "Vampires? Don't they kill people?" he asked. "People out to kill you for your blood don't make good friends!" Calbee said it so matter-of-factly it was hard to believe that he was so naive to other topics of adulthood, such as puberty, and the world. But Calbee was indeed a bit of an enigma. Sure, being created by Becca, he could vaguely experience what she went through, but since he wasn't with her 24/7 after elementary school, he didn't retain or understand much of it.

Calbee felt Becca's head rest on his shoulder, and in turn he leaned his head on hers with a big a smile. "Hmmm...what I was doing, well, I just kind of roamed about. Had dogs bark at me, made their owners think I was barking at nothing," he said with a smirk. "I also saw how your, um, current mom wasn't helping you.."
 
Becca almost didn’t have the heart to tell Calbee the truth about it. Well, almost anyway. “The school doesn’t have anything to do with naps. They don’t provide them, but they don’t stop you from taking them either,” She said as he decided to work through everything else she described about life, including the vampire phase. “You don’t get it, it didn’t matter if they drank blood. It wasn’t about making friends. All that mattered was that they were hot. The werewolves were too,” She said, pulling up a shirtless photo of one of the actors who played one of the well-muscled werewolves. “Everyone wanted to be Ella Crane back in those days. Even me.” She admitted. “Then it became about zombies once the vampire thing ended. Fairies had a thing too,” Becca explained.

Becca couldn’t help but envy a part of her creation. He didn’t have to go through puberty physically. No trying on any weird clothes, or realizing that you had hair in places you didn’t before. How awkward a first kiss was an- Becca paused on her thinking. Calbee probably never had a first kiss. And had no idea what any of those changes felt like. It made her feel bad, but envy him even more. “She’s not my mom.” Becca coolly reminded as she eventually made her way closer to Calbee, letting her head rest on his shoulder. “Don’t leave okay?” she said, yawning against him and falling further asleep.
 
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Calbee looked at the picture and stared for a while. "Hmmmmmm... nah. Still don't get it," he said with a shrug. Calbee laid back down and crossed his legs with his arms behind his back. "But hey, the moment came and went. At least you had fun with it, right?"

Becca reminded Calbee of who her current - erm - caretaker was, and looked a bit concerned for a moment. "Uh.. right," he said. He had a grasp of the situation, at least knowing that the woman wasn't actually her mother. Even so, what else could she be right now - a mother figure? A babysitter? A roommate? Who knows... and he knew that Becca probably wasn't going to answer any more questions concerning her.

As Becca leaned onto Calbee, the green-haired man smiled and pet her head gently. "Don'tcha worry, Bec. I won't."

And with that, Calbee began to nod off as well, allowing the cool breeze to soothe him into a deep sleep.
 
(Sorry for not telling you that I was out of town for like, 10 days.)

Becca let her thoughts slip as Calbee promised he wouldn’t leave her, and she ended up falling actually asleep before she knew it. The day didn’t get any colder, but the shade seemed to keep both of them in good places. By the time Becca regained consciousness, her arms were wrapped around Calbee’s waist and her head in his chest. Without thinking about it, she hummed and noticed how comfortable it was, and how well it seemed to fit her head. It was clear that Becca did not want to get up, and her eyes almost started to drift again. But soon she caught sight of her phone, and the various messages popping up. What also stood out was the time. Shit – they were there for two and a half hours! “Shit,” She cursed before looking up and realizing just who she was cuddled around. She immediately parted, smoothing her hair down and trying to calm herself down. “Calb, wake up.” She said, shaking his shoulders. What the hell? She’d fallen asleep with him before sure but they were like, babies! “We gotta go,” She insisted as she looked around for the off chance that she dropped something, or left something in the grass.
 
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On an Autumn day such as today, the cool breeze on Calbee's back and the warmth of cuddling his best friend was a wonderful, truly wonderful feeling. Calbee nuzzled the top of Becca's head in his sleep, almost seeming to purr when he did so. Imagine his surprise when Becca woke up and suddenly pulled away!

Calbee ended up on his face when he woke up, snorting and coughing as he jolted away. "WHAT-- what, morning-- huh?" Calbee looked around, disoriented from his slumber. "Time for school again?"

Calbee stood and stretched calmly. "What's the rush for, Becca...?" he said lazily. "We just took a nap, what happened?"
 
Becca tried her best to shake the flush off her face as she gathered her things up. She hadn't had that good a nap in years, and yeah, it was Calbee. But it was the first time that she really remembered that Calbee wasn't the kid in her memories, and she certainly wasn't the kid in his. "No - not morning," She muttered as she slid her jacket on, "And no, not time for school again," she said, at least grateful for that. She wanted to feel bad for waking the two of them up like this but this was not what she had in mind - actually, yes it was. It was a fucking perfect nap, and wouldn't it have been so much nicer if she could've just stayed there and not have to deal with life?

But they had responsiblities and - shit! Her dad's appointment! No wonder she got so many damn messages. She was going to be late and it was one of the only things she really didn't want to miss. "Yeah, we did, for almost three hours!" Becca explained as she pulled Calbee off the grass. Her phone went off again, and for the first time in the past couple of hours, she was able to answer it. "Calbee I have to be at my dad's appointment in like, fifteen minutes and it's on the other side of town!" she explained as she scrolled through her phone for the nearest available ride. Damn it, why couldn't she have a car!
 
"Huh?!" Calbee got up with Becca as she pulled him up. Listening to Becca's predicament, he then looked worried as he realized the severity of the situation. He looked around the area seeing if there was another taxi like before but quickly stopped. "Wait a minute...!"

He then brought a hand to his mouth. Calbee began thinking and moving rather dramatically as he thought and thought - similar to how some children's cartoons would have the main character do a motion or even a dance to jog creative ideas. Becca could practically see the lightbulb turn on above Calbee's head as he suddenly looked up. "I've got it!" he announced. "Becca, come here!"

Without warning, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. "Let's go to your dad's appointment!... Wherever that is!"

Tighter and tighter Calbee held Becca. Soon, they began to feel the world spinning as the college campus began bending and contorting. It would have been dizzying if Becca didn't shut her eyes. The scene around them began to settle down and stop moving, and once they were still, they would notice that they were right at the appointment with about ten minutes to spare.

"So... I guess it does work," Calbee said. He slowly let Becca go and gave her a silly grin. "Since I can teleport, you can hold onto me and teleport too! Of course, this was my first time trying this so that was just a huge guess, but, it worked! And you're here right on time!"